Chapter 22 – Fly Me To The Moon

Ṛëa​ｄ​& ;&o;ń K‌ａt&R;ｅa‍​ԁ​in&g;Caf̂e​

My body aches, I’m exhausted, and everything hurts.  

It’s a complete mess.  

But for some reason, my body feels like it’s on fire.  

‘This is strange.’  

I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed fighting or had such tendencies.  

So what is this exhilaration I’m feeling now?  

At least it’s not out of fear.  

Just because I can’t die doesn’t mean I don’t feel pain.  

And right now, hundreds of werewolves stand in the heavy rain, ready to tear me apart.  

Nearly a thousand werewolves, motionless, staring at me with red eyes—they’ve transcended mere werewolves, becoming something beyond reason.  

‘But….’  

Maybe that’s why my aversion has lessened.  

Is it because the situation is so absurd?  

It feels completely unreal.  

In short, it’s like a play.  

A play without a script, and without an audience.  

‘…Well, there might be an audience.’  

Even one audience member is still an audience.  

Baekmo Cheong-an could count, I suppose.  

Though strictly speaking, he’s not an audience member but a character using the werewolves as pawns.  

‘What does it matter?’  

It’s all trivial anyway.  

Such self-comfort.  

A form of brainwashing, hypnosis, self-suggestion that things will work out in the end.  

“…Alright! That’s enough!”  

“…?”  

Cheongung tilted his head with a stiff expression.  

I took a deep breath, filling my lungs.  

‘Seriously, everyone’s being so unnecessarily serious.’  

It’s nauseating.  

Disgusting.  

It’s all meaningless anyway!  

“Yeah, let’s just get this over with.”  

“Vampire Lord, you…”  

“Shut it. I don’t care about your situation.”  

Cheongung’s eyes were heavy.  

His expression was resolute.  

But.  

‘What does that have to do with me?’  

Life is just a series of meaningless events.  

The weight that humans, adults, arbitrarily impose becomes shackles.  

If I get caught up in that, I’ll eventually adopt their way of thinking.  

I’ll end up burdening myself with trivial matters, shackling myself.  

‘Why am I fighting?’  

It’s simple.  

Because it looks fun!  

‘Wouldn’t it be boring to just use superpowers and brawl?’  

It’s so unrealistic!  

So there’s no need to take it seriously.  

I hate heavy atmospheres.  

I opened my eyes wide, heating up the blood in my body.  

“So this time, we’re each fighting with our specialties, right? Not like that time when you suddenly handed me a sword and told me to attack.”  

“…“  

“It’s not like a veteran bullying a newbie, but that time was a bit awkward, Cheongung.”  

Grip.  

I grabbed the protruding steel bars.  

The sensation was vivid, but my mind felt oddly light.  

I didn’t hide my racing heart.  

Whether it’s tension or exhilaration, it doesn’t matter.  

I can’t distinguish between such emotions anyway.  

All I feel is the pumping of my small heart and the flow of blood.  

Only physiological reactions serve as my guide.  

So I’ll handle this altar as I please.  

‘This is exhilaration.’  

“Alright.”  

I smirked and rolled my foot.  

* * *  

And moments later.  

“A sword carries the heart, the mind. A sword is a means to prove oneself and a means of communication. When swords clash, it’s a dialogue of essences.”  

“Ah, right.”  

Sunset, twilight, rain.  

The smell of blood.  

How much time has passed?  

“Your sword has weakened.”  

“It hasn’t weakened.”  

“Yeah, sure, it’s strong. It’s a true sword, so it’s definitely stronger than when we clashed before.”  

Shadows.  

Rain.  

Splatter. Splatter. Blood spreading through the flowing rain.  

Countless werewolves were practically environmental elements.  

The extreme conditions of the battlefield.  

But thanks to this body, I could endure it.  

The warriors of the White Wolf Faction fell like wheat when I swung Big Magnum once, and those who got close were crushed by the steel bars.  

Werewolves don’t die, but they have a regeneration period.  

And in that regard, I had the overwhelming advantage.  

So, the only one I really needed to worry about was Cheongung.  

A one-man tactical weapon.  

“…!”  

Through the blurry rain, a sword flashed, and the next moment, Cheongung’s massive figure was in front of me.  

I blocked the slashing blade with Big Magnum, but it wasn’t enough.  

No, it was overwhelming.  

“Ugh…!”  

Cheongung slashed vertically with his sword repeatedly.  

I barely blocked the first strike, but the second was even stronger.  

Finally, the attack split Big Magnum in two.  

Fortunately, I twisted my body, so the wound only went from my collarbone to my navel.  

“It seems you couldn’t do anything either.”  

“Yeah, right. I only know how to fight without thinking…”  

The White Wolf Faction’s werewolves showed no signs of stopping their assault.  

To counter Cheongung, what should I do?  

I threw the broken Big Magnum aside and grabbed the steel bars with both hands.  

I blocked the relentless sword strikes.  

He’s strong, but there’s no heart in his strikes. They’re incredibly light.  

Nearly three hundred werewolf corpses were piled around. Where’s Baekmo Cheong-an?  

The priest is…  

“We werewolves live in the night world and cannot set foot under the sun.”  

Then, Cheongung’s voice reached me.  

“…Baekmo Cheong-an was dissatisfied with that fact. He asked why we werewolves had to live in hiding. He proposed to me, asking why I didn’t fight for the werewolves.”  

The life-and-death duel with Baekrang Cheongung was a lie. A ploy to lure him here and bring him under his control.  

To achieve this, Baekmo Cheong-an took hundreds of White Wolf Faction werewolves hostage.  

“Was I wrong? Is it my fault for not raising my sword for my kin?”  

“Why are you asking me that?”  

My body is in tatters, and the wounds are deep.  

Thud, thud. The blades keep clashing.  

We’re all so weak.  

Maybe it’s because we’re drenched in the heavy rain.  

I felt my arm, which had been blown off by the sword, regenerating as I struggled to speak.  

“So, was Baekmo Cheong-an’s goal world domination or something?”  

“Extreme terrorism. Humans defined it as such. Cheong-an’s goal was the collapse of human-dominated society.”  

“Ha, haha.”  

It’s too romantic, I guess.  

Cheong-an has no sense of reality.  

If you ask whether terrorism can solve the situation, well, it’s doubtful. Terrorism only breeds resentment and isn’t a proper solution.  

Honestly, trying to collapse human society with a few hundred werewolves is a pipe dream.  

But.  

“Yeah, Cheong-an’s sense of reality is overflowing. In the end, the hundreds of werewolves were just hostages to recruit you.”  

“It’s all about saving face. I’m too different from them to blend in naturally, but since I’m still a werewolf, they couldn’t just discard me… like a sore thumb.”  

The attacks stopped for a moment.  

I could see Cheongung panting heavily.  

Cheongung’s body bore significant scars.  

All wounds I had inflicted by exploiting his openings. It’s unbelievable how he’s still standing after taking hits from Big Magnum.  

The heavy rain made me feel anything but pleasant.  

Maybe it’s because I’m listening to unnecessary worries.  

“I have no choice but to kill Cheong-an or kill my kin. That’s the last resort. So! So what choice should I make?”  

Cheongung was confused.  

Crash!  

A heavy attack, louder than any sword strike, came rushing.  

I didn’t block it—I dodged. I stepped to the side, but my neck was momentarily twisted back.  

“Ugh, ugh.”  

My consciousness faded for less than a second before regenerating, but I felt dizzy.  

I stabbed the steel bar, now missing its tip, into Cheongung’s solar plexus.  

Why am I fighting here?  

What was the original goal?  

A request, right?  

The request was to chase down the werewolves.  

Is that possible here? What should I do? Exactly how?  

My vision blurred.  

At that moment, Cheongung spoke.  

“…I understand why we’re hesitating as we clash.”  

“Yeah.”  

Hesitation. In the end, there’s no reason.  

I charged at Cheongung to face him properly, but Cheongung was no longer the same as before.  

“A lost sword, lost blood. It’s a stalemate.”  

And in that moment, another voice came through the rain.  

We stopped the swords and steel bars we were swinging to kill each other.  

No, we were forced to stop.  

“Long time no see, Vampire Lord.”  

“…Long time no see. You said you’d hit me, but I didn’t expect it to be blocked so easily.”  

“Sorry, but I’m not in the mood to get hit right now. Understand? Our Vampire Lord is completely drenched in blood. This is a new look.”  

Mertzel flicked away the sword and steel bar she held in each hand and approached me.  

“Everyone’s lost and flailing around. This won’t solve the core issue.”  

Mertzel pulled out a tablet.  

I frowned.  

“Cheongung, you should listen carefully too. We don’t have much time.”  

The request I received had two parts.  

One was to disband the werewolves in the C Industrial Complex.  

And the other, which I had forgotten, was.  

“To investigate the source and identity of the drug. You can’t do a half-hearted job, Vampire Lord.”  

“Ahaha…”  

“If you’re going to clash, you should go all out and burn it all down! Right?”  

Mertzel played a briefing video on the tablet.  

[Eucalyptus Pharmaceuticals]  

[Case regarding the acquisition of a drug sample related to soul interference. We request your cooperation in the investigation.]